


Princess of Hearts

by mariirodriguees



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Disney - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2020-11-08 10:54:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20834294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariirodriguees/pseuds/mariirodriguees
Summary: Princess Isabelle of Auradon is the younger child of King Beast and Queen Belle.After Mal and Ben got engaged and the barrier was removed, more VKs joined Auradon Prep. Now, in addition of planning her brother's wedding, she prepares for the end of summer vacation and the beggining of another school year.





	1. Enchanted

**Author's Note:**

> So... I watched the three Descendants movies in a row and now I'm obsessed. Don't know where I'm going with this. Hope you enjoy anyways.  
I have a few original characters here, like Isabelle, Cinthya, Jameela and more. The rest of characters you already know belongs to Disney.

"Which one do you think will fit Mal's hair best? Midnight Purple or Precious Indigo?" I say, laying down a bunch of color palettes on the table. Looking up, I see my brother's face changing to an expression of pure confusion.

  
"What?" Ben said while taking a step back to sit in his chair. A minute ago I had entered his dorm room with a bunch of papers he had to decide and sign off.

"Remember when you said you wanted the wedding main colors to match you and Mal's? I thought we could go with a dark blue or purple for her, and maybe Royal Blue or Sweet Lemon for you." I point to the color pallete I'm holding. He looks like I had just slapped him in the face.

“I am sorry, Izzie. I’m a little out.” My brother apologizes, taking one of the palettes to analyze. “I like the Precious Indigo for her, and the Royal Blue for me. Her blue, my blue.” His expression changes to a dreamy one, his eyes not looking at anything; he always has this face when talking or thinking with or about Mal, his future queen.

“Ew, you’re ruining blue for me.” I take the palette out of his hand, smiling at him. “Great, I like that too.” Ben smiles with my approval. After Mal revealed that Hades was her father, her colors changed from the usual purple to a dark blue, which I think looks even better on her; the crown of the Queen of Auradon, all crusted with sapphires, would appear like it was made just for her. “I’ll take these to Jane later so she can take care of the flowers samples for you two to approve.” I say, putting the things back in my bag.

“Then I need to get Evie so we can talk about your suit and…”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He interrupts me, laughing. I’m running back and forth with wedding planning since Ben told me and our parents he was going to ask Mal to marry him, so I was forgetting things more than I usually do. “Like, the first day of school? Which starts in a few hours?”

“I’m not forgetting, just conveniently not thinking about it.” I joke, and he looks all serious now. Like I could ever forget it, since we have been back to our dorms on Auradon Prep for the past two weeks now to get ready for the new school year. I mean, I was getting ready for the new school year. Ben graduated last summer, but he did the way back to the school with me to welcome the students along with Fairy Godmother. “Don’t give me the big brother eyes, you know I’m not serious.”

We laugh together now, I’m really excited about all this. School is back and I truly missed it; my brother is going to be married soon and I was going to have Mal as a sister, which made me even happier.

“Can I ask your help on something?” he suddenly changes, his eyes filled with apprehension.

“Sure, Benny. Unless you’re asking me on romantic advice. In that case, I’m afraid can’t help you. Maybe I can interest you with unnecessary jokes and an awkward punch on the shoulder?”

“You know, Jay has been a terrible influence on you.” My brother roll his eyes, not really serious, but not really playing. “I have been working all summer with Fairy Godmother since we brought the barrier down so we could include all the VKs on Auradon Prep. Mal and Evie helped me, but I really wanted you to lead this. You were my right hand when I decided to bring the first VKs to Auradon. Now there’s more of them, and they will need help to fit in, like Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay needed, and there is no one else I would trust to do this. Please, Izzie?”

“Why you always have these big and flowery speeches? I’d have said yes on the spot, Benny Ben.” and it’s the ultimate true. Because when Ben started to advocate for the VKs, saying they deserved a second chance, I was the first to back him up. I helped coordinate everything, I almost drove him insane asking to bring more kids when it was clear that the first four ones had proven themselves to be good, lovely people. I knew there were going to be more kids after the barrier went down, but I was happy that my brother, the king, chose me of all trustworthy, competent and helper people he had around him. Me, the younger sister, who at the age of seven used to scare him with stories of him becoming a beast when he reached sixteen.

“Oh, thank you Izzie. Mom said you’re very deep on the wedding planning, but she’ll help you more so you don’t get too much. Carlos and Jay said they will be ready to help you, too.” He is relieved now. “I knew I could count on you.”

“You can always, always, count on me, big brother.” I assure him. “So, when do I start?”

“That’s the best part. They are waiting for us right now. Ready?”

* * *

Excitedly, I almost ran down the stairs so we can reach the gardens, where the new students are. Ben said the younger ones will be assisted by Fairy Godmother herself, and they’ll be joining later in the week because they are still adapting; a lot of kids were practically starving, scared and abandoned, robbing here and there to survive.  
For now, my task was to explain everything about Auradon and the school to the older ones, take them to their dorms and classes and stuff like that.

We reached their group, all of them looking around with suspicious eyes. There was about fifteen teenagers, maybe two or three preteens. Ben came forward to start talking.

“Hello, good morning to you all. As you know, this is Auradon Prep, our school. I’m Ben.”

“Look if it isn't our great King.” I see Uma stepping closer to us, a mischievous smile on her face. She was, as always, absolutely beautiful, with her hair was braided back and loose, matching the bright teal on her clothes.

“Hi, Uma.” Ben is a little uncomfortable, but his smile doesn’t fade. “I welcome you all to our school, your new school. We will give you all your dorms numbers and directions, your classes times and everything else you need”

“We?” She asks curiously. Behind her are two boys I presume are her seconds, Gil Gaston and Harry Hook; they both smile like they’re thinking about how they can steal something from my pockets.

“Yes, we.” I smiled, taking a step forward. Uma looks more attentively and finally laid eyes on me; her eyes shine with recognition.

“Oh, it’s the little princess, I remember you.”

We only met briefly on the Cotillion when she spelled Ben because when Mal ran away back to the Isle, my brother, Lonnie and the VKs went to bring her back they did not told me their plan, so I was left to make up stories for our parents and Fairy Godmother about why our King and Auradon Prep students were missing. After that, I was put asleep by Audrey when she went all evil queen so I also missed when Uma and her crew came to Auradon to help.

“Not so little, thank you. Actually, we’ll be sharing the same classes.” I say to her. “Wait till you see me blowing things up in the chemistry lab.”

“You’re cool.” she takes a lock of my blonde hair, and smiles again. “Don’t ya think, Harry?” He steps forward, interested.

“This is my sister, princess Isabelle” Ben introduces me before he can say anything “She will do the school tour with you, show the dorms and make sure you all have everything you might need.”

Harry bowed a little, so our eyes were on the same level; I wouldn’t admit it, but the contrast between his light blue eyes with the heavy eyeliner mesmerized me.

“Aren’t ya something, princess?”

I put a leg behind my body to do a curtsy. “I’m enchanted to meet you all.” I say, not particularly answering him, but giving my best smile while looking into his eyes. “You can call me Izzie, if you like. Here are your schedules with all you classes, including Remedial Goodness 101, Basic Chivalry and the boring stuff like Math and Chemistry. Also includes all electives you can take.” Ben looks at me sideways, while I hand all the VKs the papers with the informations.

“Alright, I’ll leave you with the best hands in Auradon.” he clasps his hands nervously, lowering his voice to talk with me. “I have a meeting now about the reformations on the Isle, but if you need anything…”

“Everything is fine, Ben.” I tap on his back trying to reassure him, even though Uma’s look is rather unsettling.

“Yeah, Benny. I’m sure we’ll have fun.” Uma laughs, putting her arm around me.


	2. First Day

Being a princess and sister of the king was already a time consuming thing. Not that I’m complaining; with also being his advisor, best friend and events planner, the day seemed to not have enough hours. But I like putting my heart into everything I do, and with the VKs it wasn’t different. 

The tour around Auradon Prep was so complete, that they saw every inch of this school. Even the inches some of the teachers didn’t know, I must say. 

First we visit the outer areas of the school, so they see the cafeteria; their excitement seeing all kinds of foods and beverages, all fresh, tasty and so different from what I knew they had on the Isle had me with a lump in my throat. Made me remember when Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos first came to Auradon and I would bake them different kinds of cookies every week after Lonnie told me they never ate homemade cookies, or real food, in fact. More than once I wonder how father could let this happen to children who did nothing wrong aside from simply being born. 

I let them grab everything they wanted and could carry: cakes, fruits, cookies and stuff, and then we continue our tour the athletics area, the gym and the gardens. 

Gil is walking right behind me and happily eating a bowl of berries. Uma, with a smirk that never leaves her face, got a cupcake and keeps looking at me while picking sprinkles out of the frosting and licking them. Harry seems to be determined to steal a piece of Uma’s cupcake, but she’s too smart for this and laughs every time she deflects him. 

I try to pretend I’m not seeing any of this, showing the group the hallways and classrooms, explaining everything about time, grades and schedules even if I promised to help them find their classes anytime they need. I also explain about the clubs, the games and sports and all extracurricular activities Auradon Prep offered. 

And last but not least, I take them to their dorms. The younger ones go first, setting up, greeting their roommates. Celia laughs excitedly when she learns she is bunking with Dizzy Tremaine, and Itzel, daughter of Yzma is with Ruby, Rapunzel and Eugene’s daughter, a bubbly girl who warmly hugs her new roommate. 

I could see Ben and Fairy Godmother were careful with choosing the pairing for the dorms. They probably didn’t want to pair all the VKs together and look like an attempt to separate them from the AKs, but also took their time instead of randomly setting up the students. Alexander, son of Gothel, was in a room with a fair distance from Ruby’s brother, Raphael, and would be paired with Aziz, son of Aladdin and Jasmine. 

Uma’s pirate crew all end bunking together too. Their reactions are mostly enthusiasm, but mixed with a little indifference. 

I guess it’s still hard to adapt to Auradon after an entire life in the Isle. 

“Room 603, and here we’ll have…” I introduce, reading the papers Ben gave me. “Harry Hook, and Gil Gaston.” 

“Yes!” Gil cheers, raising his hand for a high five. Harry gladly corresponds, and they cheer together. 

“Here are your keys and a map to the classes building.” I hand it to Harry. He takes the key with his hook, spinning it. 

“Hope ya remember the way, darlin’. You might wanna come visit.” he says, staring at me. He’s trying to intimidate me, waiting for my reaction. Is he expecting me to blush and giggle like a princess would in his mind?

“Yeah, you never know. I might want to spend some quality time with an awesome pirate, right Gil?” I blink at him, and Gil throws his head back laughing. 

Harry didn’t appear to be affected by my words. If something, he seemed pleased. They both entered their room, talking loudly. I reminded them of their first class this morning, and soon the door was shut closed. This left me and Uma alone in the hallway; she was still picking on her cupcake when I started to walk again. 

“Alright, I see that everyone is settled.” I go through my papers to see if I missed something and turn to her “Last, but not remotely least, the captain takes room 271.” I put the keys in her hand as we stop in front of room 271’s door. 

“And who is the fluffy pink princess I am going to be bunking with? 

“Hmmm, actually, my favorite color is blue.” I said, putting my own key on the lock and opening it. “Shall we, roomie?”

Uma has her lips stained with red from the cupcake frosting coloring; she grins, like I’m getting used to see her doing. “Oh, this is going to be really, really fun.”

* * *

I wait for her to put away all her belongings, which weren't much. Uma also jumps on her new bed, only a few feet apart from mine. 

“Your first class is Remedial Goodness 101 with Fairy Godmother, in hallway 2, classroom 5. I actually told them this wasn’t necessary, but she insisted because ‘it showed good results’. Fortunately, I got to suggest a few improvements on the curricular base.” 

“So this means instead of sleeping the entire class I will be just bored enough to kick Gil’s chair?” 

“Probably.” We smile at each other. The sunlight enters through the open curtains and give her skin a golden shine, like the sun goddess on one of the tales my mother used to read for me and Ben. “But your class after lunch is chemistry, as mine. I already told you, expect a lot of explosions. Come, I can drop you on your class before I go to mine.”

She grabs the backpack it was given to her with school supplies and follow me, not much enthusiastic. I guess school isn’t much fun in both Auradon and the Isle.

When we got to her class, Fairy Godmother waved at me from inside the classroom, which meant some of the VKs turned to see who she was waving at. Gil did the same when we recognized me, and I smile while waving back at him. Harry just smirked at the sight of me and Uma, and I see that she rolls her eyes like she knew exactly what he was thinking. 

I didn’t, so I probably played dumb while looking at them both, waiting for a explanation that obviously wasn’t going to happen. 

The bell rang, and I left to begin the school year in the most boring way ever: math. It actually was even more excruciating than we were expecting, as Melody said. English and World History were also really interesting, as we began to focus on each kingdom before the creation of Auradon.

Biology came later, and was awesome as ever, but that’s just me speaking. Me and Carlos partner up since he got to the advanced classes, and we talked about the VKs coming today and how he wanted to be a veterinarian after graduating; I promised I would help him in anyway I could. 

“How are they behaving?” He asked after class was over and Dude came running and jumped at him happily so we could head to the cafeteria for lunch. 

“Good, I guess. Some of them came to be between classes to ask for directions and they seemed pretty happy. Of course they’ll need some time to adjust definitely like you guys needed. But me and Ben are really confident about this, we want to work this out in every way.”

“I’m sure you will, Izzie. You helped us a lot, especially Mal and Jay. And you make a really good red velvet cookie, so just bribe them with food. Worked with Jay, remember?” 

“Thanks, Carlos. How’s Jane? I’m supposed to meet with her after school to talk about the wedding planning.”

“She’s freaking out with the chandelier that’s going to be on the ballroom.” He shrugs. 

I look at him with sorry eyes, because the planning is taking a lot of time, time they could spend together. 

Like he had just read my mind, he goes “It’s not your fault. I like that she’s so devoted to these things.” 

I open my mouth but before anything comes out of it, I feel my arms being held from each side. I look and see Harry on my left and Uma on my right, both locking their arms with mine. Carlos just rolls his eyes, saying Jane is waiting for him and we’ll meet later. 

“So, roomie, it’s time for the tea party?” Uma says in a ridiculous, fake accent. 

It’s my time to roll my eyes. “If you guys wanted to spend time with me, all you had to do was ask nicely.” I tighten the grip on their arms and straightened my back. 

“Ya can’t say no to those eyes, right darlin’?” Harry professed. 

“I’ve seen cuter.” I say, which was a tremendous lie. 

It took me a while to notice he wasn’t wearing all of his pirate clothing: he had taken off the hat and jacket, but the hook was still there. 

We stepped inside the cafeteria, still together side by side, and for a moment all the talk ceased, all eyes on us. I could already hear the gossip.

As if nothing happened, we got in line with our trays and get some food before sitting on a table where Gil was already waiting for us and devouring two bowls of fruits. 

The initial shock must have passed, because the conversations got back on, and my friends normally passed our table and greet all of us before going to their tables. Usually, I spent lunch running around getting things done, or with Ben, and later with Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos. Indeed, my plan for today was to get a sandwich and meet with my brother in his office. But I sat squeezed between Uma and Harry, both talking excitedly, and I thought, well, wouldn’t be so bad if I just stop by to talk with Ben after class is over. 

“Look if it’s not my favorite princess!” I hear a voice behind me. Aziz is with his arms open, waiting for a hug that I gladly gave to him. 

“Don’t let Jamie hear that, she would kill you!” 

“You know Jamie won’t mind because she loves you.” he laughed, leaning in to kiss my cheeks tenderly. “I missed you so much! How summer vacation was for you? If I remember correctly, you had promised to visit us in Agrabah. My mom was pretty disappointed.”

“Oh, you have to tell her how sorry I am. Will she come for family day?” I asked, feeling guilty. I did promise that, and Jamie was probably furious at me. “I got caught up in some things, I am really sorry Aziz. As a matter of fact, may I introduce you to some of our newest students?”

“The VKs!” he cheered. He and his sister Jameela were both close friends of mine; I guess having your father growing up as a thief that ended up marrying the princess teaches you to be non judgmental, because they were one of the few that had open minds about bringing VKs to Auradon. “I am prince Aziz, son of Aladdin and Jasmine.” 

“Cool!” Gil said.

“This is Gil Gaston, Harry Hook and Uma, daughter of Ursula and my roommate.” I make the introductions. They say hello to each other. Aziz sits by Gil’s side and they start to talk loudly and happily about school and Gil was asking about Agrabah and his family.

I felt my phone buzzing in the pocket of my skirt, probably Ben asking why I didn’t showed up, but I continue immersed on the conversations. I can deal with the party planning and everything else later, I told myself once more.

The rest of the day goes by without much surprises. Me and Uma got partnered up in chemistry like I had predicted, because I am the worst at this class and no one has the patience to see me mixing up reagents wrong and having to go through decontamination after. 

Turns out, Uma is pretty good at chemistry. With more adequate study, she could probably tutor me in a few months. 

Not that the goal is to change them into entirely different people, but the education is important so they have more opportunities to be whatever they wanted to be now that the barrier was down for good. If they didn’t come to Auradon Prep, Evie wouldn’t ever establish herself as a designer, and Carlos wouldn’t learn about his love for animals and even less decide in being a veterinarian. The whole point was to give them better lives, everything they wouldn't have in the Isle. 

After classes were over, I met Jane at the gardens as we had agreed to for me to help her narrowing options of flower arrangements for Ben and Mal to approve. Then we needed to have the crown jewels to be brought so Evie could choose the tiara that would suit Mal’s wedding dress better. 

“So, it’s settled that after vows, we’ll proceed to the coronation, right?” I ask. 

“Mother said yes, she will crown her as soon as they are declared married, and then Mal will be crowned and proclaimed Queen.” 

“Alright. We also need them to approve the sweets that will be served in the reception… my mother is taking over this part, you can talk about this with her later.”

Planning events is really fun, but also really tiring. Sometimes I think that if I survive this I will never marry just to not have the trouble to do this all over again. 

One hour and forty seven minutes later, I am opening the door to my room. Uma is standing right in the middle of it, looking at the windows in silence. 

“Hi, roomie.” I greet, closing the door behind me. “How was your first day?”

“Awesome. Can’t believe this is everyday for you.”

“Yeah, it is. And it wasn’t even one of the crazy days.” I approach her. Her clothes and belongings are all scattered on her bed, but she seems very relaxed. I take her hands on mine and received a raised eyebrow as answer to the gesture: “Look, if you, or your friends need anything, any thing at all, you can ask me. Seriously.” 

“I like you and all, princess, but you don’t have to be nice to us. 

“I do, really. Not because my brother asked me to do this, but because I want to. I… I’d like to think you are all my friends now. And I care for my friends.” 

She smiles, but doesn’t say anything. I notice her eyes vague to the wall behind my study desk, where I taped pictures, post its, drawings, cutouts from magazines and books. I had a ton of pictures taken over the eyes; pictures with my family, on the royal cotillion and every other prom we had at school, with Audrey, Chad and Cynthia, Aziz and his sisters, Jane, the VKs, basically everyone I loved. Do they have cameras on the Isle? Mal and Evie never had photographs with them. If I had to generalize, I’d guess that even if they had cameras, villains didn’t appear to me at the type of parents who photograph every phase of their children’s life. I suddenly wanted to do something for her to feel more at home. 

“It’s a little plain, don’t you think? Maybe this is the chance to redecorate I have been waiting for.”

The smile turns into a wide grin. “Do you like green?” 

* * *

We were in the middle of what I think it’s probably the best artwork I have ever done in my life when we hear a knock on the door. I look at my watch, and it’s past 11 p.m. 

Fairy Godmother had strictly but not so respected rules about our curfew on school nights, but there wasn’t much people that would knock on my door at this hour. 

“Hey Iz.” I heard from the other side. It’s Ben. “I thought I’d come to visit and ask about your day.”

“Oh Ben, do come in.” I shout from my spot on the floor. I didn’t have much patience for this formalities, so Ben was already used to it. He opened the door cautiously.

“You didn’t showed to our lunch… Oh!” My dear brother’s eyes widened when he saw Uma and me on the floor, drawings and paintings and magazines all scattered around us, a beautiful collage to decorate Uma’s side of the dorm room. She made drawings of her pirate life at the Isle to serve as photos and everything. 

“We’re decorating.” I say, standing up. Ben is still in his suit, so that meant he was probably just wrapping his day. “What do you think? By the way, sorry I didn’t came. I figured we could just talk later.” I looked at him, hoping we would understand. If the gossip network was as efficient as I expect, he already knows I spent my lunch with Uma, Harry, Gil and Aziz.

“It’s very nice. And it’s fine, Iz. Mal had some things to run with Evie, too.” Ben looks behind me, looking at Uma. His warm tone changes to his diplomatic one to address her. “Hi Uma. How was your day?” 

She stood up and walked towards us. “Great, really. Thank you. So, are we all invited to the wedding?”

“It’s customary every citizen in the kingdoms are invited to the king’s wedding. All of Auradon is.” I say to her before Ben does. “But Ben and Mal are personally signing all their friends’ invitations, and that includes you.”

“And I was thinking I would have to charm our princess here until she asked me to be her date.”

“That’s not off the table, you know.” I smirked.

Ben quietly smiles, watching us, then looks at his watch. “It’s really late, I should go. I don’t want to get you two in trouble or anything.” 

I laugh, because I would hardly get a detention because the king wanted to talk with me late in the night. Anyway, I walked him to the door. “How was everything today?” he asks in a low tone. 

“Wonderful, much better than I had expected.” I exclaimed. “They’re doing really good.”

“Thank you for doing this, Izzie.” Ben smiled. 

“There’s no need to thank me, I’ve said that. They deserve this.” I look at Uma, who went back to our artistic mess on the floor. 

“They do.” Ben agrees. Then he looks at me more closely, smiling widely. “So...I guess you have a date now?” 

“Ok, it’s time for you to go. You’re taking nonsense.” I push him to the hallway, both of us laughing. “Goodnight, Benny Ben.” My words echoed in, and before he can say something, I close the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone that might be reading this: thank you!  
I'm sorry if this is out of touch is some parts, I'm trying to set the tone for the story and the characters yet. It's going to get better, I promise.  
And I'm also sorry that it took me too long to update. I got caught up with tests at the university, then with the holidays. But now I'm ready to enjoy my summer vacation. I cant promise frequent updates, tho, but I will never give up on this fic, even if take months for me to update. anyways, Thank you!


	3. Hopeless Romantic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well... turns out i'm alive?

“Good morning, sunshine!” a loud voice resonated through the room, waking me all of a sudden. Startled, I literally fall out of my bed and my body hits the floor with a thud. 

I look around and see the clock stating it’s 6 A.M, our room softly lit as the sun was still rising. All of the unfinished drawings, bottles of paint, colored pencils and papers were scattered on the floor. The door was open, and standing there was Evie. She has her hands on her hips and eyebrows arched in a dramatic way, but I can see that she's having fun with the situation. 

I get off the floor, walking towards her while avoiding the papers. 

“What in the name of fairy godmother are you doing here so early?” I open my arms to give her a hug, even if I’m a little annoyed in being thrown out of my bed. 

“Unless you want to be the first maid of honor ever to wear sweatpants, we have a lot of work to do! You are the only one I haven’t made any progress yet.” 

“I wouldn’t mind if it gets me more hours of sleep.” I joke, but she is staring at me very seriously now, her lips twisted. “Ok, ok! We can do the fittings after class. No, wait! I have cheerleading practice. We can do it after.”

“Not after.” She takes a measuring tape out of her pocket. “Now.”

“Oh, come on Evie.” I sit on my bed, exhausted already. Evie doesn’t say anything, just gestures with her hands for me to stand up. I roll my eyes and do as she said, standing in the middle of the dormroom, my arms up and legs separated. 

Turning my head, I see Uma in her bed still wrapped in the blankets, looking at us with curiosity and her distinctive smile. 

“Oh, good morning roomie. We have company, you see.” I quipped. Evie started working, taking measures of my arms and writing them on a notepad she brought.

“Hi, Evie.” Uma greets without leaving her spot. Her hair was messy, braids everywhere and smudged eyeliner. “Wow. Slept like a rock. I didn’t even know a bed could be this comfortable.”

“When we first got here I loved going to classes and see everything. But I admit it was hard to leave the bed. Mine at the Isle wasn’t good either.” Evie stated, looking down to read the numbers on the tape, a tiny smile on her face while she did the work. 

She measured my waist, hips, bust and height, writing everything down; meanwhile, she talked about the wedding planning, about her business in fashion and about Doug. Yeah, Evie is a perfectionist, so she takes her time even in doing the simplest of things. 

“For our dresses I still haven’t decided the perfect one yet. I was thinking in a dark blue and purple, and, oh! With tulle with little sparkles?”

“It’ll go beautifully with the floral arrangements and the bouquets. Mal decided for roses and daisies colored in purple, blue and yellow.” I assure. “Maybe we can go with a back neckline a little lower?” 

“Perfect.” Evie smiled and did the “chef’s kiss”, which probably meant she liked the idea. “I’ll do some sketches before and will send them to you later. Uma, it’s your turn.”

It was Uma’s turn to almost fall out of her bed in surprise. She was silent the entire time, just observing our interactions.

“What?”

Evie did a dramatic turn, clasping her hands together. “As much as I love your style, you don’t think I’m letting you go to a royal wedding, _ the _royal wedding, in boots and a pirate hat? Come, we have work to do.” 

“If you turn me into a pink marshmallow, I’ll make you walk the plate.” Uma threatened, but the grin gave her away and I knew she wasn’t serious. Or at least entirely serious. 

Mimicking me, Uma gets out of the bed and comes to my side, raising her arms.

Slowly and carefully, Evie takes all the measures she needed for Uma. “I’m thinking of a golden dress with touches of teal. How do you feel about lace?”

I remembered Uma’s teal dress for the Cotillion, when she had spelled Ben; it was part of a magic trick from Mal’s spell book, sure, but that dress was really beautiful and made her look amazing. Even after she turned into a giant human part octopus, like her mother, and tried to kill us all.

It happens.

After a lot of details of lace, silk, satin and sequins, color shades and possible necklines, Evie leaves the room, saying she had more girls to visit and talk about their dresses, her floral fragrance still in the air. 

“So… are we going to talk about the fact that your nightie has little crowns on it?” Uma wondered. I threw my pillow at her.

* * *

By the time we’re both finally alone in our room again it was already past 7 A.M, meaning we needed to get ready for classes. I told Uma to go first while I go to my closet and search for something to wear; I pick the first skirt I reached for, a-line and high waisted. When Uma got out of the shower, I had already sorted a pair of platform boots, but still am choosing between a blue cropped top I didn’t wear very often and would probably get me a few raised eyebrows from the teachers and a yellow shirt that my mom chose for me. I decide for the cropped, because why not? 

When it’s my time to get out of the shower, Uma is sitting on her bed, applying green eyeliner. I fix my hair and put on a little make up and we finish getting ready in silence, but I notice her eyes following me around the room. I wonder if she notices when I do the same. 

We get our backpacks and step out of the room…only to almost being ran over by Harry and Gil, who were standing by our door. 

“What do you two think you are doing?” I inquired, but not really expecting a reasonable answer.

“Waiting for you.” Gil says, excitedly, as if it was obvious. 

“To take the prettiest girls in Boreadon to class.” Harry completes, raising his hook to touch a strand of my hair that was coming out of the braid.

“I’d be careful with that.” I say, looking up; our eyes met, and I gave him the sweetest smile. “You might get someone hooked.”

“That’s the intention.” he slightly threw his head back in a laughter.

“Chill, Harry.” Uma is rolling her eyes at the interaction, and Gil, poor Gil, seemed a little lost but not less excited about the reunion. Not that he was dumb, he clearly was just a little slow to get the things going on around him. But a good person, no less. How could he be the son of someone like Gaston, that was so full of himself and tried to kill people because of his pride and hatred, was out of my comprehension. 

“If I don’t get some caffeine, I might sleep through the first period. Or end up locking someone in the dungeon. That sounds fun.” I think aloud.

Harry and Uma smirked in agreement with me. The three of them follow me as I make a stop at the cafeteria to get a cup of tea.

“What is that?” Harry inquires, leaning a little to smell the cup in my hand. His nose wrinkled, which I could not help but find it a little cute. 

“Green tea. Is a type of tea they say fastens the metabolism. I drink it in the mornings because it has caffeine but tastes better than coffee. Are you guys going to get anything? The hot chocolate here is to die for, if you ask me.” 

“But chocolate isn’t that little square things?” Uma asked.

“You can also drink it. You’ll see.” And I turned to order for them one of my personal favorites. “Here. Salted caramel hot chocolate.” I gave the cups in their hands and they looked at me, suspicion all over their faces. I rolled my eyes and smiled. “I’m not trying to poison you, just- just take a sip.”

They did, and the look on their faces that substituted the suspicion was absolutely priceless. I guided them to the classroom of our first period, with excited conversations about beverages they should try first. 

It seems exaggerated, but I was so sincerely happy and it was just our second day. 

“Take a banana peanut butter smoothie for lunch. Gil, you should try a berry yogurt smoothie, it’s amazing.” I recommend it. “Oh, seems we have the same class for the first period.”

Our first class was Safety Rules for the Internet, that is a mandatory class for every year, meaning we had to watch the same lectures and do the same essays year after year. I walk in and see Jamie sitting at her usual chair, saving the one on her side, where I sit. She smiles and waves.

“Look if it isn’t Miss Auradon.”

“Stop that!” I waved in annoyance. Since one gossip magazine called me “Miss Auradon” to talk about my social life, Jameela simply adopted the name and calls me that all the time, just because she knows I hate it. 

“Silence, please.” The teacher walked in, putting a lot of books and papers on his table. Jamie straightened her back. 

“Welcome and good morning, class. I see we have a lot of new faces this year. My name is Mr. Sherman. We also have a stuffed cronogram to follow this year. Therefore, I will begin today’s class differently. You will pair with another classmate to do this activity. It’s a method called Problem Based Learning. It’s a series of situations regarding the topics I will follow this year. For those who are new, don’t worry. This activity won’t receive any grade, and it will help me see any weak points in your learning so I can set the best teaching schedule for everyone in your senior year.”

The class came undone in a collective sigh. It was very him to give a test without admitting it was a test on the second day of class. “You may form teams of two.” 

I look at Jamie, my usual partner, and she reaches out to poke me in the arm. Right as she puts her books and notes on our desk, the teacher interrupts.

“Not so fast. Miss Isabelle, I know you and Miss Jameela are quite acquainted. But we have new students and I think it would benefit them very much to have your help today. Mister Hook, please. Mister Gaston, you may sit with Miss Jameela.” 

Jamie looked at me, eyes widened in confusion. I shrugged, and went to sit beside Harry, while Gil took my spot with her. The teacher proceeded to pair everyone; Uma ended up with Ruby, and Aziz with James.

“Well, hello partner.” I say to him. The corner of his mouth curved in a side smile. He had a little scar on his upper lip that I hadn’t noticed before. 

“Ya ready?” 

“You better be a fast learner.” My threat sounded so ridiculous and obviously fake, it made Harry grin again. 

“You’re cute when ya try to sound mean.”

Mr. Sherman started to walk by our desks and hand everyone papers with the problems he wanted us to solve. They involved scenarios with cyberbullying, rules to use social media, how wireless connection worked. Two were very simple, but the last one seemed to be really difficult. I knew they didn’t have the internet or anything like it on the Isle, so it would be twice as hard as I would have to help Harry and solve the problems at the same time. 

“Do you have an idea on how the internet works, Harry?” 

“Is that thing you use to talk about yourselves and post pictures of cats?”

“Who told you that?”

“Gil heard it from Jay.”

“Yeah… I’m not sure if that’s the exact definition. Here.” I put the papers on his desk and reached for my bag, handing him a folder. “These are my notes from last year. See? We learn how to use social media safely, how to use computers and tablets.” 

Promptly, I start to explain the basics to him. They all were given smartphones and computers when they arrived, so the class would be very useful in the end. 

I had already covered the basics and proceeded to the problems, answering and explaining at the same time, when I felt his legs brushing lightly against mine under the desk. I look up from my papers to his eyes and stop, mid sentence. 

His face doesn't say anything, it’s like he’s totally concentrating on what I was talking. He is not even looking at me, his eyes focused on the pile of papers between us.

Perhaps it was an accident and I’m imagining things. 

“Hmm, as I was saying… Here, we have this situation where someone is bullying a friend anonymously through the internet… The problem is what we should do? First thing is-” Once more, I felt his leg brushing against mine. Like, slowly, a little provocative, not accidentally type of brushing. I looked at Harry again, and this time the corner of his lips twitched, like he was trying to hold a grin. 

Harry was playing me? Or is this like, a passive aggressive flirting move? I always had fun with a little playful flirting, especially with Aziz or my friends; but real, intentional flirting it’s almost always awkward for me, and I get ridiculously blushed. Very cliche of me. 

A bit anxiously, I put a strand of hair behind my ear and try to look away so he doesn’t see how flushed my face probably is now. Jameela appears in my sight; she is raising an eyebrow at me. I mouth at her “_ later” _ and she settles on getting Gil to understand whatever she was trying to explain. 

“See, here we’ll have to explain in topics, like step by step. And Mr. Sherman likes complete but not too lengthy answers. He says the more we write, the less we know. I have everything in my notes from last year, I can make a copy for you.” I offered, trying to act as if nothing had happened. 

“That’s really nice of ya, princess.” Harry says. He sounds sincere, but the more we interact, the more I notice his words always carry a hint of mischief behind them. 

His arm moved to the back of my chair. 

“What are you doing?” I whisper, leaning forward on my chair. 

“I’m learning.” Harry replied, his eyebrows raised as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. 

Biting my lip, I concentrated on writing down our answers, discussing them with Harry; he wasn’t the most focused person, and kept clicking his pen the entire time, but surprisingly seemed to learn something and even helped me write everything down just as the teacher began to talk.

“Time is over, class. I will be collecting your papers and we will discuss our next activities after.” Mr. Sherman announced. He walked by the rows of desks to take the papers from the students, reaching our desk last. 

“Mister Hook, I trust that you benefited from Miss Isabelle’s tutoring, as I predicted?”

“Yeah, sir.” and he smiled, but instead of looking at the teacher, his eyes were on me.“Our princess here is a great partner.” He put his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me against him, and he made sure to keep the eye contact with me. All snarky and smart comebacks I could say suddenly escaped me and I couldn’t think of anything. 

“ It was very educational, Mr. Sherman.” I assure, deciding for the polite young lady tone directing to Mr. Sherman and ignoring Harry. 

“Very well.” he collected my papers, pretended he didn’t noticed us both being weird, then turned to the class. “I am proud to see everyone had a satisfactory performance today. But it could be better, so I will pass your first assignments of the year.” 

Another collective sigh. Mr. Sherman ignored our silent protests of “It’s the first week and you’re already giving us homework?” and went on explaining how the essay needed to be done, how he wanted us to give him a presentation of our studies and results and how it would be a big part of our grades. 

“You will turn in and present your essays in three weeks. It will be done in groups of two, more specifically, the duos I formed today. They will be your partners for this assignment. Any questions can be brought up to me and I will be glad to help in any way I can. Questions?” Silence. The bell rang, announcing the end of his class. “Alright. Good morning, you are dismissed.” 

“Looks like you’re stuck with me, princess.” Harry jokingly says while I stand up from my chair. He does the same, hugging me by the waist. Irritatingly, I blush again, feeling blood rising up to my cheeks. 

“I would appreciate it very much if you don’t touch me like that again when we’re in a classroom full of people.” I plead, taking a step away from him.

“So I can touch you if there is no one around?” his tone was enthusiastic, like the idea cheered him up.

“Yes. I mean, no!” I rolled my eyes. 

“What Harry can’t do?” Uma asked, coming close to us. The classroom was always empty now, and I should hurry. I move away from Harry’s arm.

“I was just telling Harry he can’t miss our study sessions.” I smiled at them. “You are welcome to join, roomie. I take tutoring very seriously.” 

Uma just looked at me pushing away Harry’s hands, and then at him, still grinning. She raised her eyebrows, a small twitch on her lips hinting a smile. 

“I have Magical History class now. Your classes are Math, and then Life Skills Without Magic. Classrooms 4 and 2, same hallway.” I got on the tip of my toes so I could kiss Harry on the cheek, and did the same with Uma. “See you at lunch, pirates.” 

Quickly, I walk away before they can see how red my face is. 

* * *

After the bell rang announcing classes for that day were over, it was with a little bit of laziness that I walked to the girl’s locker room to get ready for the practice. Ruby, Jameela, Jane and the others were already there, dressing their blue and yellow uniforms.

I became captain of the cheerleading team after Audrey quit last year a few mox nths before their graduation. Cheerleading was always fun, even if the acrobatics almost scared my parents to death on every single game they watched.

“And I was starting to think I’d need to make an appointment to actually talk with you.” Jamie closes her locker.

“You’re a real pain, did you know that?” I roll my eyes at her, while I look at my locker to find a hair tie. “But I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot of work to do.”

“It’s alright, I’m just messing with you.” She was playing with her hair. “So…”

“Oh, I know that tone.” It was like a red light just turned on in my head.

“You didn’t even hear me!”

“That is your ‘I want to set a date for you’ tone.” I accused. She didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed.

“Well, you didn’t date anyone since last fall after you dumped my brother. I’m just concerned.”

“I didn’t dump Aziz, Jamie. We weren’t even dating to begin with.” 

“You went to the Halloween party together!” 

“And your point is?”

“And you kissed him next to the poisoned apple tree forest and he spent the next three weeks talking about you. I had to listen to my dad saying he always knew you two would get together. Really annoying.” 

“We talked about it and decided to be just friends. He knew the thing with Cynthia really got me messed up.” 

Cynthia was Chad’s twin sister, and I spent our entire first year crushing on her. We dated for like, two months the next year but she dumped me right after. Being bisexual wasn’t a issue for my family or friends but the gossip magazines went a little wild with it, so the entire picture left me a little distressed.

“It’s been two years, almost. Time to get back on the field!” 

“Don’t talk like that, please.” I pleaded, and she laughed. Jameela really enjoyed being a matchmaker. Not that her plans ever worked out, but she liked to try. 

I dressed in my uniform while Jameela kept talking about my dead dating life. 

“What about Sebastian? You know he has had a crush on you since eighth grade. Oh! Maybe Harper, she’s cool.”

“Jamie, I don’t even have time to date.” 

“C’mon, Izzie! Your brother’s wedding is coming, you can’t go without a date.” 

“Don’t be absurd.” I rolled my eyes, but the memory of Uma talking about being my date last night came to my mind. My father and Ben have been asking if I would bring someone, as Evie and I would both be Mal's bridesmaids and she was taking Doug as her date. Would it be weird if I didn’t have a date? Should I invite someone?

“Let’s go, cupid.” I poke Jamie in the shoulder, and she laughs. “My inexistent love life can wait.”

We walk out of the locker room towards the field. The Tourney team was already practicing, coach Jenkins blowing his whistle like crazy. All the girls were on the field, waiting for us. 

“Hello everyone! Let’s do some stretching first, shall we?” I greeted them. We begin stretching legs, arms and neck. When I bend so I can stretch my back, I see Uma, Gil, Harry and a bunch of VKs sitting on the bleachers. I notice Uma and Harry looking at our group, while the others are watching the tourney team and talking to each other, commenting on everything. Timidly, I wave at them.

“The first game of the season is coming in a few weeks. How about we train that new choreography we created before summer?” I suggested, turning to my team. The girls agreed excitedly and got in formation. Jamie turned on the speakers, and the music started. “Ruby, remember to try raising your arms a little higher after doing the split. Ok, five, six, seven, eight…”

Our main choreography was created by Audrey when she first became cheerleading captain a few years ago. Ruby and Jamie started working on a new one last fall and we finished it right before summer break started. Mainly, involved me getting thrown into the air and doing splits with Ruby in the end. Real fun. 

On the first time Jane almost dropped me, but thankfully no necks were broken and I managed to finish it nicely. 

“Awesome!” Jamie cheered. “I loved it.” 

“Yeah… we just need to work better on the elevation thing. But you were all great, really.” I praised them. “Five minutes break before we try again?” The girls agreed with my suggestion and went to check their phones or rest a little and drink water. 

“Woah, who knew you were so flexible?” I turn around; Jay is behind me, a bottle of water on his hands and a whistle hanging on his neck. 

“Do you really want me to answer that?” I challenged, then jumped on his arms to give him a hug.

“No, not really.” he laughed, handing me the bottle.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were preparing for a gap year travelling across Auradon?” 

“Yeah, Coach asked me for help to train the tourney team this season. Couldn’t say no. This means I’m going to see Your Royal Sourness every week.”

“That will be the highlights of my school year.” 

“Really? Because I heard something about you and pirates…” He had a playful smile on, leaving the words in the air to tease me. 

“People take gossiping very seriously around here.” I rolled my eyes. “But don’t act like Gil doesn’t get all heart eyes with you every time.” 

“Okay, I think it’s time for you to go back to your training, kid.” He held me by the shoulders, spinning me around. He goes back to the tourney team, and we’re still laughing as he walks away. He waved at the bleachers, and I looked in time to see Gil waving back at him. I have to text Evie about this later, she will love to know we were right. 

The girls returned so we could start the training again. “You know” Jamie started, and I looked at her, raising my eyebrows. “A certain pirate has not taken his eyes off you since we got here. And you think I didn’t notice something weird happened on first period?” she glanced at Harry sitting with Uma and the other pirates at the bleachers.

“It was nothing.” I shrugged, hoping she wouldn’t notice my lie “Can we stop talking about this? You know, if we were in a movie, people would be annoyed because today we only talked about men so far.”

“Yeah, right.” Jamie smirked, shaking her head. 

I shook my head, trying my best to not think about Harry. 

“He’s just playing. Harry thinks I’m a hopeless romantic princess that will fall in love with the mysterious villain that flirts with her.” 

“Well, you are a hopeless romantic princess.” she noted. I laughed. 

“But he doesn’t need to know. C’mon, back to work!” I clapped to get everyone’s attention again. “One more time then two laps around the field. We have a whole summer break worth of ice cream and cookies to make up for.” they groaned “The first game of Tourney season is in just two weeks and we have to be ready. Positions!”

A little unfortunately, being a cheerleader was more than just looking cute on a colorful uniform, mini skirt and pom poms. At least this time I ended my split without almost breaking my neck. We started running, and when we were barely at the half of the first lap around the field, I started thinking that maybe it was a bad idea. I didn’t train a single move when we were on summer break, so I was sweating like crazy. 

Maybe or maybe not purposely, I slowed my pace when running by the bleachers. I stopped, leaning on my knees. 

“Hi, roomie. Hi, Gil!” I ignored Harry. I was still a little bitter about the way I reacted when he tried to play me. 

He didn’t seem to mind, but kept looking at me.

“Can I help?” 

“Nah, just enjoying the view.” I raised my eyebrow at him, but Harry just grinned.

“What view?’ Gil asked, looking around as if he was missing something.

“Oh, look, there’s Jay training the team.” I pointed at where the team was practicing around the kill zone.

“Cool!” He turned his head to look at where I was pointing. That was my cue to start running again.

When we finished the laps, I kind of wished to be dead. Okay, not specifically dead, but perhaps in a magical induced sleep? Happened when Audrey tried to destroy Auradon, and to be honest, it wasn’t that bad. We decided to call it for the day.

“I would kill for a shower right now.” I say, taking my bag out of my locker.

“Want to do something tomorrow?” Jamie is tying her hair into a braided bun now. “Ugh, nevermind. I just remembered I have a giant essay to do. Can you believe Fairy Godmother already shoved so much homework on us?” 

Before I could answer her, my phone rang one, two, three times. Probably Jane being desperate because she remembered we didn’t plan the lighting for the party and the coronation yet. 

Jamie and I made our way back to the dorms building when my phone rang again. I take it out of my bag; surprisingly, Jane did send me a bunch of texts, but the recent notifications were messages from my brother and Mal. 

_ “Hey, can you meet me after your practice? _

_ Mom is asking why you haven't called her yet.” _

_ “Drop the pom poms before Ben has an attack because you’re not answering.” _

I laughed, because he was like that sometimes, just like he appeared in my room yesterday just because I forgot to text him back; then I stated to Jamie that we could meet up later, and texted Ben that I would meet them in his office in forty minutes.

Right as I was opening the door to mine (now our) room, my phone rang again. The first message was just a bunch of letters and characters, like a cat just walked over the keyboard (and I knew that from my own experience); the second was a rather complete sentence if you read over the typing mistakes. It roughly said _ “Uma and I will be waiting for our study sessions.” _

Taking a deep breath, I type an answer. I could play this game too, right? I press enter before I could think twice. 

_ “Our room, or yours?” _


	4. Kisses and Cupcakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little chaos in written form... hope it doesnt sucks. comments are welcome!

Exactly forty minutes later, because I’m a great appreciator of punctuality, I’m knocking on the door to my brother’s office at Auradon Prep.

I didn’t always have the habit of knocking on the door but well… I had my fair share of caughting Ben and Mal there. I can assure you no one needs to see her brother and her friend making out on his desk. 

“Hey, Izzie.” Mal greets, opening the door and wrapping me in a hug. She smelled like candy and paint, as usual; her headpiece and leather dress with tones of dark blue and purple were so elaborated that made me wonder if Evie actually sleeps instead of spending 24 hours a day styling Mal’s clothes and designing dresses for every lady of Auradon city for the wedding on her free time. 

“Hi, sis” Ben immediately gets up from his desk and comes to hug me, kissing my hair. He wore one of his usual suits in light blue and yellow, Auradon’s colors, but his tie was crooked, like it was pulled and then someone tried to fix it. I looked at him, raising an eyebrow, just to let him know I noticed it. 

“So, how’s school?” Mal questioned, sitting on the little couch; there was a white box on the table, and she reached out, taking a cupcake out of it and picking the strawberries on the icing. Ben goes back to his desk, organizing a few papers that were scattered and mixed.

“You know, Mr. Sharman gives the same classes and essays he does every year, and Fairy Godmother loads us with homework. The usual.” I pick out a banana muffin. “But you didn’t ask me to come just to hear about my exciting school life”

Mal laughs. Ben raises his hand to scratch the back of his neck. “I just wanted to hear about our project… How are they doing?” 

“It’s so cool, Ben! The VKs are all adapting really well. I’m keeping an eye on everyone, but they seem to be fine. Everyone is doing their best to make them feel welcome.” I paused. “You know, I could’ve said this over the phone too.”

My brother looks at me, an amused smile on his face

“How would you call me if you’re too busy between cheerleading and flirting with pirates?”

“Don’t forget color palettes for the wedding and tapestries for the coronation. Oh, and the bridal shower. I’m multitasking, brother.” I enumerated, laughing at his expression, probably because I didn’t deny the part of flirting with pirates. 

“Don’t torture him, Izzie.” She blinked at me and smiled playfully because Mal knew as much as I that Ben could be a little overprotective.

“Anyways, we settled on meeting after class two times a week so I can see how they’re doing and they can tell me if they need anything.” I tried to change the subject. As dead as my love life could be, the last thing I wanted was to discuss it with my brother and his soon-to-be wife. Ben and I talk about pretty much anything, but I always leave some details out of it. 

“Great, great. Keep me informed. Oh, and remember to call mom and dad, you know how she gets.” Ben added. I just nodded and reached out for another muffin. 

“You’re lucky cheerleading must burn a lot of calories.” Mal pointed out, an raised eyebrow at me. I laughed. 

“By the way, Evie asked me to remind you: coronation dress fitting tomorrow at 9.” 

Mal pretended to melt on the couch. “Evie is killing me. I might pass out before Fairy Godmother can put the crown on my head.”

“On the good side, you can be your own something blue.”

* * *

“Right in time for our study session!” Harry’s voice greets me as soon as I enter my dorm room.  Wait. 

I blink once, and look around. The number 271 is on the door, and it’s definitely my room, with the pictures above my study desk, the yellow shirt I left on my bed this morning and the hair dryer I dropped on the floor before going out to meet Ben a couple of hours before. But when I left, there weren't three pirates sitting around. I remembered the text I had sent Harry earlier.  _ “Our room, or yours?” _

Guess our room it is. 

Uma was lying on her bed, textbooks and papers around her. Gil was sitting on her study desk, concentrated on whatever he was writing down so he didn’t see me entering the room. Harry obviously wasn’t sitting like a normal person, with his back on the floor and legs up and based on Uma’s bed. 

“Hey, princess!” Uma greets when she sees me.

“We were just waiting for ya.” grinned Harry, sitting straight and tapping on the floor beside him, as if inviting me. 

“You guys took the whole study session thing more seriously than I had expected.” I teased. 

“We’re doing our homework.” bubbled Gil. “We have a ton from Remedial Goodness.”

“Fairy Godmother was inspired, I see. She is known for burying every student in this school with homework, in fact. Good thing I brought snacks.” Well, I can’t say I predicted the three of them would be here now, but I always function better doing homework with some candy, and I thought in extending the habit to Uma, something to make studying easier. Before Mal and the others came, Ben did a little research on the schools they had on the Isle and while the education was not terrible, we knew they would have a bit of a shock when facing Auradon Prep methods. 

Fortunately, as I didn’t know much about Uma’s preferences, I brought a variety of candy and other snacks, so it would be enough for the four of us and even more. 

I walked to the spot where Harry just pointed and sat by his side. Uma leaned in from above us, her braids tickling on my shoulder. “I got sour gummies, chips, cookies and kisses.”

“Kisses, huh?” Harry smiled again, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive meaning. Uma rolled her eyes and reached for the bag of snacks. 

“These are the only kisses you’re getting from me.” I say, trying to sound more serious than my smile allowed me. I took one out of the package and put it in his mouth. It wasn’t my intention, but he made sure his lips touched my fingers as he bit into the chocolate.

“We’ll see about that.” was his answer, the smile still on his face when I tried to mumble something that came out as “Ahrrrrr” 

“Share some with us, Harry.” she tried to reach for the bag again and Harry moved it away from her hands, laughing. 

Gil came from his spot at the study desk and took a bunch of cookies. I handed Uma some sour gummies and she went back to her previous reading position on her bed. Harry was biting into another kiss when I glanced over at the book that was resting on his lap.

“How are you guys doing?” I asked while reading more attentively at the answers Harry wrote on his homework. It’s Magical History homework, and well… “Hmmm, listen, that’s not how Fairy Godmother’s wand works. And it can’t be used to remove curses like Maleficent’s.”

Harry wrote down what I said, humming a tone I didn’t recognize.

“If someone is cursed to live in a beast’s body, how can I help it?” Uma read out loud. 

“I know!” Gil exulted. “Don’t try to kill them and fall out of a tower in the process.” he listed. 

Uma seemed to think about it for a second. “It works.” She approved and then ate another candy. 

Standing up, I go to my own desk and pick the books I would need to do my homework and walk back to the spot beside Harry. He looks so pleased to see me sitting beside him, and immediately starts to settle for what I assume is a more comfortable position for him, which a moment later I discovered was laying on the floor with his head resting on my legs. Gil didn’t seem to notice, and Uma just looked at us, bit her lips and focused on her book again. 

Hours pass and we’re talking, laughing and yes, still doing our homework. I did help a little, especially on Remedial Goodness, but they did a pretty good work by themselves. Gil fell asleep on Uma’s desk and Harry was still in the same position although he wasn’t reading anymore. His hair was spread on my legs and I suddenly had the impulse to run my fingers through it. 

“I have to say I’m surprised.” I leaned in, whispering so only he would listen to me. “You behaved so nice today.”

Harry just grinned. His focus changed, and I watched as he ripped a piece of paper from one of his notebooks, made into a ball and threw at Gil’s head, waking him up. He woke, startled, and fell from the chair. 

Uma and Harry chuckled. In a second, Gil jumped at Harry and I could barely climb on Uma’s bed to watch they play fight, wrestling and laughing.

“Do they… you know, do this very often?” I asked. Uma snorted.

“Boys.” she rolled her eyes. 

They wrestled more and Harry was pronounced the champion, with Gil promising a payback. Night came and Uma kicked them both out of our dorm room in a sample of the fierce captain Mal always told me she was. 

“Ready for sleep already?” 

She smiled. “Want to hear some pirate stories?”

I smiled too, because that is exactly what I wanted. Mal was never part of Uma’s crew, so the stories I hear from the Isle are very one-sided. The three of them seem to have had as many incredible adventures as Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay, and no one ever heard those stories. Also, her point of view of what happened when they kidnapped my brother is something I can’t say I haven’t been curious about. 

I sat on my own bed, pushing some clothes to the floor. 

“Tell me everything.”

* * *

“You won’t believe what just happened!” shouted Jameela, shutting my door open and sitting on my bed before I can even take my head off my pillows.

“I really need to start locking that door.” I mumbled, looking at the clock at my nightstand. “Jamie, it’s 7 A.M. yet. I hope something exploded or is at least on fire.” 

“Charles just asked me to be his date at the Neon Lights party! 

“What, really?” I sat up straight so I could hear the story and its details. Jamie has had a crush on him, princess Tiana’s younger son, since we were in Auradon Prep Middle School and I was slowly working my way into convincing her to ask  _ him _ to the party.

“So, we were in our first meeting to start planning the party, we both got in charge of the decorations and he asked for my number so we could keep talking. We texted until 2 A.M and then he said we should go together!” 

“See? You should have asked him out sooner, I  _ knew  _ he liked you!” 

“Wait, hold on, what is a Neon Lights party?” It's the first time Uma speaks since Jamie stormed in, and I didn’t even see she had woken up. 

“Hey, roomie. Morning.” I greet her. “Neon Lights party it’s like a welcoming party for the new school year, it always happens on the last saturday of september. It’s very fun, we use black lights and wear only white or other neon colors.”

“Oh, we could use neon body paint too!” Jamie suggested. She was part of the party planning committee this year. Our plan always was to join together for our senior year, but with the wedding and coronation planning, I just couldn’t assume another thing considering I still had the cheerleading team, had volunteered to the yearbook committee and now had the VKs to help. 

“Isn’t this just asking for a huge paint war in the middle of the party?” 

“We will cross this bridge when we get to it. I have a lot to plan for the Halloween party, too.” Jamie waved my words away. “C’mon, get up!” 

“One full night of sleep. Is this too much to ask for?” I sighed, jumping out of my blankets. 

“Body paint?” Uma jumped out of her bed too, eyebrows raised. 

“Don’t ask.” Jamie rolled her eyes at me and started to talk about how much fun it would be if we painted our face and bodies with neon paint for the party. Uma listened to her idea, seeming interested. I, on the other hand, could only think Fairy Godmother would never approve something like that. 

“She will, if you ask her.” Jameela insisted. “You know she loves you.”

I was up, anyway, so better if I just get ready for school. Jamie was already dressed for the day in her favorite green silk dress and golden sandals, but I was still in my nightgown and Uma was buried in her pile of pillows. 

I insisted to Uma use the bathroom first while Jamie had just decided she was going to choose my clothes for the day and was buried into my closet. She had fun choosing between two dresses to go with a pair of blue kitten heels and said she was going to make me swallow an entire magic lamp if I didn’t wear my hair totally down today. Jamie was a more aggressive version of Evie and her stylings, and the two love to have fun in using me as a giant dress up doll. She even convinced Uma to let her help style her braids. 

Later, as I was predicting it would become usual, when we left for classes Harry and Gil were already waiting for us outside our dorm room. 

“Aren’t you glad I made you wear your yellow dress today?” Jamie teased, pinching me on my elbow after Harry offered his arm to me and Uma, walking between us two as we made our way to the cafeteria and then to the classrooms. Jamie told the boys about the party and they got excited as she obviously expected. 

“Do teachers go too, or just students?” Gil asked, looking around as if it was a casual question. I knew what he was really trying to ask, and took a post-it with a phone number written on it out of my backpack pocket and put it in his hand. 

“You can ask him yourself.” and I blinked. He giggled when noticed it was Jay’s phone number. Evie was going to like that the phase 2 of her plan was in course. 

Fortunately, today’s classes passed very quickly, a blur of me and Uma messing up some mixture at chemistry class, Harry and Gil basically nailing every question Mrs. Bell had for them at History of Woodsman and Pirates and a very discrete nap at Math class. 

“I still think you should try for the swim team.” I say to Uma as we make our way back to classes right after lunch. 

“Maybe.” She looks thoughtful for a second and reaches for the cupcake in my hands, sticking her finger in the icing and then taking it to her mouth and licking it off. Uma notices I’m staring at her without saying anything, blinks twice and smiles innocently like she doesn’t know what happened, her golden eyeliner flickering with the lighting on the hallway. 

My brain screams at me, reminding my dumb self to breathe. The bell rang, and I say a lame excuse to run right to advanced biology class. 

“What happened to you?” Carlos inquired as I took my seat beside him. 

“Uma licked my cupcake.” I dumbly explained, and he just laughed. Dude, sat between us in a special chair, laughed too. 

I’m not gonna lie, being laughed at by a dog is quite humiliating.

“Hey!” Jane greeted, sitting by Carlos’ side and kissing him in the cheek. “Did you see the flyers for the Neon Lights party? I’m so excited. It’s our first party as seniors! Oh, I remembered, Izzie, is everything ready for the bridal shower? And the tapestries for the coronation? Hey, what happened?”

“Uma licked her cupcake.” Carlos said, like that explained everything. 

“So I take the ‘I’m going to be happy and single’ resolution is not going well?” She mentions without taking her eyes off her tablet, probably choosing some table cloth for the wedding; the whole single and happy thing is what I have been saying for quite some time everytime someone wants to set me up on a date. After I tried with Aziz and it was more weird than I could handle, I decided it would be for the best to just avoid crushes, dates and crazy make out sessions in empty hallways or behind poorly painted party sceneries. But great, why not get attracted by not one, but two people at the same time and in a ridiculously short amount of time? 

“It’s going terribly.” 


End file.
